1980 murder: Ronald Rice sentenced to 80 years

Stacey Wescott, Chicago Tribune

Jerry Hobbs talks to the Chicago Tribune about his five years in jail, accused of murdering his 8-year-old daughter, Laura, and her 9-year-old friend, Krystal Tobias in 2005. Hobbs was released Wednesday morning after prosecutors dropped the charges after DNA linked the killings to another man, authorities said. He wears a t-shirt that says, "CSI - Can't stand idiots." He said he was afraid to show anger or scream his innocence from jail, where he was kept in isolation for at least half of his five years in custody because it would give prosecutors more reason to pronounce him guilty, he said. "The only thing they had gotten out of me was what they got out of a broken father," said Hobbs, who turns 40 on Aug. 15.

Jerry Hobbs talks to the Chicago Tribune about his five years in jail, accused of murdering his 8-year-old daughter, Laura, and her 9-year-old friend, Krystal Tobias in 2005. Hobbs was released Wednesday morning after prosecutors dropped the charges after DNA linked the killings to another man, authorities said.

Edwin Gulbransen, 11, was killed in 1980. Ronald Rice, 56, who first claimed to have accidentally struck and killed an 11-year-old boy in 1980 -- then later bragged he had actually strangled the boy -- has been sentenced to 80 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder. Rice was initially charged with leaving the scene of an accident after Edwin's body was found in a forest preserve near 158th and Ridgeland near Oak Forest.